On the Road Again!

I need to do something about this.  Until I get a letter to say my job is safe, there's no way I can extend myself with a loan.  The only change to this position will be if I win the lottery or inherit a stack of cash. However, it doesn't stop me fantasising especially when the America is actually £300 cheaper at Laguna than I had thought.  I guess that might not be the OTR price. http://www.laguna.co.uk/locator/112360/america.aspx

One of the irritations in this area has always been the crap provision of secure motorcycle parking around the country, and especially in Folkestone and Hythe where I live. Until Sainsbury's opened their new store,  provision in Hythe amounts to two small crappy spaces in Aldi car-park, one small space in the Waitrose car-park where you have to clear the trolleys out of the way. Where else? Shepway was grasping for cash a year or so ago and so the bike space in the car-park by the Imperial at the end of Marine Parade was replaced with the pay and display machine. Mind you, it always had some muppet in a car parked in it. I have had a few confrontations with errant motorists when sarcastically (not in the John Terry meaning of sarcasm) asking what make their four wheeled motorcycle was as mine only had two wheels. The picture is of one of the many secure parking places in Islington where I work. This one is a ten bike space with five upside down U-shaped metal bars to lock ...

No photos this time as I used the Canon and the Sony cameras rather than the iPhone. Have to wait until I get home to use the laptop. After breakfast Saturday we took the non-toll route to Le Mans. Woody leading as my TomTom was misbehaving. ( http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tomtom.html ) At the track they affix a sticker to the headlamp and give you the other half. On leaving both have to match. They also want to see the biker's log book. French ones are small, our are four pages of A4 and paper. As it is peezing down there is no way I am getting mine out of the topbox! We arrived in time for the Moto2 free session and all three classes qualifying. All the commentary in French. A summary in English at the end is spoken by a guy that learned English in a vacuum. It drizzled all day. Rained hard at times. Almost trench foot. Sunday. Up earlier, same route, same rigmarole to park, same logbook stays in topbox. Found a space near where we were yester...

We have a week's holiday in August and now is the time to start planning where to go. France? Belgium? Both? After the GS took a tumble on the Shuttle last year, I have had a £50 credit voucher to spend against another crossing. Although not happy at the time that they didn't accept responsibility I suppose that £50 is better than nothing. The voucher has to be used by the middle of September and so a holiday in August should fit the bill. For a while we have been looking at maybe going down to Annecy or maybe the Auvergne? Planning starts here.

Canadian Memorial - Vimy Ridge , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . I was a bit slow writing up this trip but I have it on my Everytrail and Flickr pages. UPDATE - Since this was written, like many good ideas and free internet sites Everytrail has gone tits up. All the work that people put in lost.  At least the site owners probably got a pay off to  f*ck off.

I had a couple of days off in the Easter holidays and in the afternoons I had a ride out. One was to the Nailbourne Fords of East Kent and this one was across to Tenterden to have a look at the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Steam & Wind 13 April 2010 , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Although there was a train due within a few minutes of me arriving it was sadly a diesel and not a steam train as I had hoped. Steam & Wind 13 April 2010 , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . On the way back I had a short detour to Rolvenden to see if the next (and last) train was a steam engine. It took so long that I had a look to an older form of power and the windmill at Rolvenden on the road to Beneden. Steam & Wind 13 April 2010 , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . By the time I got back the level crossing was opening for the cars to pass and as there was no smoke in the air I headed home....

Nice Shiny New Bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Nice Shiny New Bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . Nice Shiny New Bits , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . A few of the nice and new shiny bits that were fitted after the accident. Now I have to work out how to keep them as nice as they are now.

Damaged beak , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . What happens when you hit a Polish bird up the backside. More scraped beak , originally uploaded by Invicta Moto . It could have been worse. Now need to get an estimate for repair. The other bike was a Honda Lead 125, it came off worse.

This road-test was originally published in 1997 on the original SOC Geocities hosted website and transferred over here when Yahoo killed off Geocities. When Suzuki offered to let me have the VZ800 Marauder for a week or two to test, I was very happy to have a 'free' bike for the duration of two big runs to the BMF/ACU National Rally and a Suzuki Owners Club Scotland trip. At the southern entrance to Glen Coe  The only factory custom bike I have ever ridden before was an early Yamaha XS400 back in the early Eighties. It had not endeared me to custom bikes! After a trip to the FIM Rally in the Czech Republic in 1995 with a riding partner on a Suzuki Savage, I had begun to think that although not actually my cup of tea, with real perseverance, these bikes could be more than 'canteen cowboy' outfits. Near Loch Ness So it was with a bit of trepidation that I picked the bike up from Ken Fulton, the SOC's magazine Editor (at the time), who had in turn ...

(Originally written and published on the old Geocities hosted SOC website in 1997)   With the UK Government thinking of ways to force commuters onto public transport on the one hand, soaking the motorist with the other hand - road tolls, commuting into City tolls, increased in Vehicle Excise Duty on top of another hike in petrol tax, the motorcycle couldn't be better placed to provide personal transport when you want it, in a more 'environmentally friendly' way. So when I was offered the latest addition to the Suzuki commuter range, the TU250X, I was actually quite looking forward to trying a bike that might fit the bill for the beleaguered commuter of the future. During my trips to Spain this Spring, I saw quite a few TU's on the streets in Murcia. Although not as popular as the Yamaha SR250, there were significantly more than you'd see in any UK town. The Mediterranean weather is far more attractive for people to consider biking. Most of the ci...

Roadtest originally published on the old Geocities SOC website in 1996!! Author: Paul Devall On the drive down to Crawley, where Suzuki GB is situated, to pick up the Bandit I really didn't know what to expect. I had just read a really praiseworthy test of the bike in 'RiDE' and wondered if I would get the same bike. In the end I got one of that bikes 'brothers'.  When Roger Simmons, the test fleet manager, and former mechanic to the stars of the Heron Suzuki racing teams of the past (remember Barry Sheene, Randy Mamola.....), brought N119 NCD round to the front, it looked very nice. It was the metallic red colour, they call it maroon, that I prefer to Teal Green and Black. After a few instructions about the small quirks on the bike I was then soon able to ride off. Only I'd forgotten my boots at home! I had all the riding gear I needed apart from boots. If you cast your minds back to early July, after a few weeks of summer weather, in southern England...

First impressions Good fit and as they are waterproof I had them over my boots. I see loads of blokes every day with waterproofs tucked into their boots... what happens when (and it will in England!) it rains? Anyway, no tight spots as I cocked a leg over the seat of the GS. The knee armour needed to be pushed into the right place as it seemed to be ideal for the knock-kneed. The hip armour was comfortable. The only concern I had is that with a 32" leg length, that they might be too short when on the bike. They are only supplied in 30" and 32". Whether that is only in fat sizes I can't tell. Once on the M20 and up to cruising speed there was a little flap from the calf area and this may be down to the diameter of the legs and perhaps I need to be a little more ruthless with the Velcro that goes around the bottom of each leg, and tighten it more. From the seating position it is hard to look at your own ankles (!) so I can't say how high they ride up ...

Originally posted on the first ever Suzuki Owners Club website hosted by Yahoo! Geocities. First posted in 1998. When Geocities announced they were closing I saved the source. Running with the Kettles - August 1998 On the face of it, a group of over fifty GT750's, drawn from all the different models from the entire six year reign, might seem a particularly insignificant and sobering thought to the non-believer. But. I BELIEVE! Thanks to some jiggery-pokery by Dave Pitcher, Chairman of the Kettle Club UK and Suzuki Owners Club member, we had a half hour. No. A wonderful half hour of track time to ourselves at the VMCC's "Festival of a 1000 Bikes" on the Sunday of the weekend event. Having a special Kettle-only session meant that we didn't have to put up with the myriad of slow blokes on Z900's and old British rubbish as we had done in Sunday's first session, the 1972-77 Over-500cc 'parade'. Waiting in pit lane I listened into a couple of ot...

The plan for the run back was to set off after breakfast and head towards the Afsluitsdijk and then south past Amsterdam, rejoining the route up around Utrecht. After petrol and a detour around Sneek we eventually found the top of the dijk. The reason for the detour was one of mapping and roadworks. I took a wrong turn at a newish roundabout that was shown on the Garmin but not with as many of the exits as exist now. In the end our position was shown with our marker in the middle of a blank area. After a few detours we got back to the A7 and headed off without any further mishap. The first stop to have a look and take a drink at Breezanddijk. Amazingly here, less than halfway across the dyke was a caravan park to go with the small harbours housing a load of pleasure boats. From that point it was all plain sailing (as it were) via the Amsterdam ring, then Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp and Gent. We had a few stops for petrol and water intake arriving back at Calais with an hour or ...

I managed to get the latest upgrade of Mapsource to work on the new laptop and work through all the Garmin files to get a better route. A week to go and the excitement builds...

Rain was forecast. Had a good ride in and even found cheap petrol! Bonus!

Great resource for interesting roads!

As you get older do you really ride more defensively because you want to, or do you compensate for failing mental functions? I've found that even though I lane split I do it more slowly and give in and let others past. I do get a bit annoyed by the human cannonball arseholes that can't wait and swerve round you. Why human cannonball? Without exception they wear helmets that look like they saw Dan Walsh from BiKE Magazine and copied the look without the riding and writing ability. Maybe it is age, but I let them get on with it and hope to get home in one piece.

A month to go until some of us from the Kent Centre of the Suzuki Owners Club go across to Assen for the Dutch TT, or MotoGP as they call it now. Our group 5 on 4 bikes will include my GS, my brother Neill's GSXR1000, James and his 1250 Bandit and another Neil (with one L) and his wife on an XJR1300. We'll be joined by Brian on another 1250 Bandit at the hotel. Everything is booked and we have put a note on the Suzuki Owners Club's new forum to see if anyone else is going; maybe meet up for a beer in the evening? No contact as yet! The outward journey is mainly on motorway from Calais. We're on the 0925 P&O boat so allowing for 90 minutes to cross the channel and the hour time difference it will be gone noon when we emerge into the French sunshine. The sat-navs give the quickest route through Belgium as the motorway to Ostend and then down to Gent and up to Antwerp again, but I have always favoured an N9/N49 route that goes across from Brugge to Antwerp more...